Associate Professor

Director, School Psychology Program

The foundation of my research and teaching is multiculturalism—an inclusive construct that recognizes that within each person co-existing cultures influence how we interact with one another and with our environments. I believe that multiculturalism is a context for resilience and leads to culturally responsive interventions that reduce the negative impact of life’s unavoidable stressors on the well-being of children and adolescents of color.

I am committed to using culturally responsive approaches to prepare school psychologists to work with all children in schools. My scholarly work on multiculturalism addresses the importance of understanding, respecting, valuing and incorporating culture in all services with children and families. As a result, my research focuses on providing culturally responsive school based interventions that focus on the socio-emotional health of students of color. As a psychologist, I design and implement cultural adaptations to evidence based practices, and I also assist school personnel in integrating culturally responsive practices that enhance teacher/student relationships and reduce some of the barriers associated with intractable opportunity gaps for students of color in schools. My work is framed around the belief that providing culturally responsive services and promoting resilience within the cultural context creates the path toward serving the “whole child.” Above all else, I am an applied researcher (also referred to as translational research). I study effective practices for working with children and families and the impact cultural context has on the effectiveness of interventions. My ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between research and practice by developing culturally responsive and innovative approaches to emotional and behavioral intervention for all children.

My current research projects focus on the application of culturally responsive interventions including the following: 1) art-based mindfulness in schools, 2) cultivating resilience through ethnic identity, and 3) nature-based education as cultural immersion. All three projects investigate the impact of interventions on school engagement and sense of belonging in students of color in schools. To learn more details about my current projects, review the article in the College of Education publication-- Research that Matters: https://education.uw.edu/news/building-resilience-fostering-identity, watch my EduTalk " The Biology of Resilience": https://youtu.be/rIcCKkWKbWA and see my personal website: www.drjaninejones.com.

Jones, J.M. (2015) Culturally responsive interpersonal psychotherapy with children and adolescents. In H.T. Prout & A. Fedewa (Eds.) Counseling and psychotherapy with children and adolescents: Theory and practice for school and clinical settings, 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and sons.

Jones, J.M. (2014). Best practices in providing culturally responsive interventions. In A. Thomas & P. Harrison (Eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology (6th ed). Bethesda: National Association of School Psychologists.

Jones, J.M. (2009). Counseling with multicultural intentionality: The process of counseling and integrating client cultural variables. In J.M. Jones (Ed.), The psychology of multiculturalism in schools: A primer for practice, training, and research (pp 191-213). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Pearrow, M., Jones, J.M. and Sander, J.B. (2018). Comparing Communities: The Cultural Characteristics of Ethnic Social Capital. First Published Online, December 18, 2017 in Education and Urban Society.https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517747680.

My philosophy of teaching is a student-centered approach. I believe the students are in the course to learn new information and I also recognize that students bring educational, professional, and life experiences that determine the way they integrate new knowledge. I try to create a climate where students can master new skills in a safe environment where mistakes are seen as ripe opportunities for learning. In addition to lecturing, I use interactive methods such as paired experiential activities, one-way mirror observation, video instruction, and/or video recording with feedback. I also enjoy using technology as a means of increasing efficiency and clarity for the students. Through the use of Canvas (an LMS), I have embedded online discussions, group collaboration, paperless file exchanges, structured peer review, and case study analyses.